Power-Dependence Relations

Power-dependence relations refers to exchange relations between actors, emphasizing the dynamics of power in those relations. The term comes from a seminal 1962 article by Richard Emerson that introduced the relationship between power and dependence in exchange relations as a key element of the perspective in sociology known as exchange theory, and the cornerstone of most approaches to the study of exchange in networks. The analysis of power and dependence in exchange relations is applicable to any realm of social interaction in which entities exchange. Consequently, it has been used and developed in a number of areas of sociology. This includes relations between parents and between parents and children in studies of the family; relations between employees and between bosses and employees within formal organizations; relations between formal organizations; relations between managed care organizations, physicians, and patients; and relations between political actors.

The relationship between power and dependence in an exchange relation may be stated as a simple power-dependence principle: In an exchange relation between two actors, the actor who is least dependent has the most power. An actor is an entity, typically a person or organization, that has likes it acts to obtain and dislikes it acts to avoid. An exchange relation is a tie between two actors in which each does something to benefit the other and that exists for that reason. Power is a term many scholars have defined and used differently. However, in the statement of the power-dependence principle, power means power over the exchange partner, or the ability to affect the partner's behavior. Dependence refers to the degree to which a particular exchange partner has control over the supply to its partner [Page 595]of its partner's likes and dislikes. Another version of the power-dependence principle is the principle of least interest: In a relationship between two actors, the actor with the least interest in the relationship has the most power.

The explanation for the power-dependence principle is not difficult. Let us assume that the more an actor wants something, the more cost the actor will be willing to bear to get it. Then the more Actor B wants what Actor A provides, the more cost B will be willing to bear to get it; and the more superior A is as a source of what B wants, the more B will be willing to bear the cost of doing what A wants. In other words, the more dependent B is on A, the more power A has over B. In his 1962 article, Emerson points out the two roots of dependence: the importance to A of what B can provide and the availability to A of alternative sources for what B provides. Dependence is greater the more what B provides is valued and the less alternative sources are available.

Emerson next took the important and influential step of extending study of power-dependence relations to study of networks of such relations. In these exchange networks, the network structure is the source of variation in the dependence of exchange partners. According to the power-dependence principle, this in turn causes variation in power. For example, consider a simple three-person exchange network: A linked to B linked to C (diagrammatically, A—B—C), in which A and C are alternative sources of the same good for B. Alternatively, the exchange in question could be spending time together, for example, on a date. In this network, B has two sources of its desired good, while its two partners have only one source each, B. This makes B less dependent on them than they are on B and hence gives B more power. Stemming from the theoretical and empirical work of Emerson and his colleague Karen Cook, the study of exchange networks has been an active and productive area of research for several decades.

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